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Daniel Horowitz, husband of Pamela Vitale, speaks about the ruling during a press conference after the jury found Dyleski guilty of killing Pamela Vitale, 52, in her Lafayette home. Event on 8/28/06 in Martinez. JAKUB MOSUR / The Chronicle MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PHOTOG AND SF CHRONICLE/NO SALES-MAGS OUT

Photo: JAKUB MOSUR

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Daniel Horowitz, husband of Pamela Vitale,...

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Supervisor Chris Daly talks to a crowd of media about his suggestion that the mayor used cocaine. Photographed in San Francisco on 6/20/07. Deanne Fitzmaurice / The Chronicle Ran on: 06-21-2007
Mayor Gavin Newsom denies he has ever used cocaine, and he calls Supervisor Chris Daly's comment offensive and sleazy when asked questions on the issue during a press conference about solar power.
Ran on: 06-21-2007
Mayor Gavin Newsom denies Supervisors Chris Daly's suggestion that he has used cocaine: &quo;That's how low politics now has gotten in this city, and I seriously thought it couldn't get much worse.&quo; Mandatory credit for photographer and San Francisco Chronicle. No Sales/Magazines out.

Photo: Deanne Fitzmaurice

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Supervisor Chris Daly talks to a crowd of media...

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Mayor Gavin Newsom participates in a press conference about solar power in San Francisco and is asked about Supervisor Chris Daly's suggestion that the mayor used cocaine. Photographed in San Francisco on 6/20/07. Deanne Fitzmaurice / The Chronicle Mandatory credit for photographer and San Francisco Chronicle. No Sales/Magazines out.

It certainly appeared spontaneous and made for some great theater on both sides, but the truth is, San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly had been stoking rumors about Mayor Gavin Newsom's supposed cocaine use for months before his outburst last week at the Board of Supervisors.

And for just as long, the mayor and his crew knew it was coming.

One of the earliest hints came in March when Daly made it clear over coffee with us that the mayor's private life was fair game in the upcoming election -- including questions about his drinking, his rehab and his affair with his former campaign manager's wife.

"I don't think it will be any part of the progressive platform," Daly said of Newsom's personal foibles, "but I do think that it's within the public domain.

"The mayor still has dozens of questions out there that he still hasn't answered," Daly said.

Asked to elaborate, he said, "Have you ever done cocaine with the mayor? Some people have said they have."

Later that day, we called the mayor's office about Daly's allegations and a spokesman flatly denied them. Truth is, he almost seemed eager for Daly to bring it on -- if for no other reason than to watch it boomerang.

That's where things remained until Tuesday when, during a speech before the Board of Supervisors, Daly slammed Newsom for proposing cuts to drug rehabilitation programs while "artfully" dodging "every question about allegations of his own cocaine use."

The next day, after Newsom described the comments as a new low in politics, Daly said his remarks had been overblown and were just a small part of a speech dramatizing the plight of drug users who can't afford treatment.

"Bull," replied the mayor's camp.

"This was not a one-time thing," said Newsom campaign manager Eric Jaye. "He said it to you a couple of months back, and they had been saying it in blogs as well. It's part of a concerted political effort to try to knock Newsom down by 20 points. Otherwise, an Art Agnos or a Matt Gonzalez or anyone else is not going to get into the (mayor's) race.

"What we didn't expect was for him to say it at the Board of Supervisors," Jaye said. "That part took us by surprise."

Judging from the initial reaction, Newsom appears to have won this one -- although by saying he has never used cocaine he opened himself up to bigger problems, should that not be the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Meanwhile: Between the Ed Jew follies and Daly's hinting of mayoral cocaine use, one might think that San Francisco City Hall has gone over the edge -- but hey, take a look at what's going on down in Los Angeles.

Over the past two weeks, the City of Angels has seen:

-- Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca step in it big time when he ordered a quick jail release of Paris Hilton.

-- Golden boy Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa lose a bit of his luster when he announced that he and his wife of 20 years were divorcing -- setting off rampant rumors of marital indiscretions.

-- And now a week of near-comedic episodes involving L.A.'s other rising star, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo.

First the Los Angeles Times revealed that while Delgadillo was busy busting Baca's chops for going easy on driving scofflaw Hilton, his own wife, Michelle, had an outstanding arrest warrant dating from 1998 for failing to appear in court for a traffic citation.

In 2004, she took her husband's city-owned sport utility vehicle out for a spin while her driver's license was suspended and backed into a pole -- causing damage that the city paid to fix.

No sooner did Delgadillo's wife show up in court to plead no contest to her 1998 driving citation than the Times ran another story -- this time revealing that the city attorney had enlisted members of his staff to run personal errands and babysit his two young children.

But heck, it's not like anyone is accusing him of using drugs.

Epilogue: Defense attorney and TV legal analyst Daniel Horowitz is off on an Italian honeymoon after tying the knot with Valerie Northrup, whom he met after she was dismissed from the jury at the Susan Polk murder trial.

Horowitz was defending Polk on charges she killed her psychotherapist husband in Orinda when Horowitz's wife, Pamela Vitale, was murdered in their Lafayette hilltop home in 2005.

Horowitz friend and co-counsel Ivan Golde confirmed the wedding, telling us the couple married at a Lafayette park a couple of weeks back.

For more background on the pairing up we called Carol Pogash, author of "Seduced By Madness," the definitive book on the Polk case. She told us that Northrup, a writer and world traveler, had been tossed out of the jury pool by prosecutors after they overheard Polk whispering to Horowitz that she wanted Northrup on the panel.

The next day, Northrup returned to court saying she might write a book on the case.

Within a week, Northrup was hanging out and working with Horowitz.

Three days after the trial started, Horowitz's wife was murdered.

In the ensuing months -- as teenage neighbor Scott Dyleski was tried and convicted of Vitale's killing -- Horowitz and Northrup got even closer.

Which might help explain how things got so chilly between Horowitz and Vitale's children from a previous marriage.

"I have no doubt that Dan loved his wife very much. He was always talking about her," Pogash said. "But that's not to say that he didn't enjoy and appreciate a pretty young woman, and he was certainly interested."